and he frowns. “I said I didn’t hire them.”
“Then who are they?”
Nolan shakes his head. “I really don’t know.”
– 24 –
“Someone contacted me the day your case landed on my desk,” Nolan says. “It was just after I came to your house that first time. Do you remember?”
“Of course I do.”
“When I got back to my office, I found a manila envelope with my name on it. There were things inside—” Nolan pauses, then comes around the car to where I’m standing. “That night they called and told me to bury your case.”
“Who’s they?”
“I didn’t ask.”
“Someone calls and tells you to cover up an investigation and you do it, just like that?”
“You’re not the only one with a past, Jake.” He takes a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket and puts one in his mouth. “They were persuasive.”
“They blackmailed you?”
Nolan lights his cigarette. “I’ve done some things I’m not proud of, things I’ve put behind me.”
“Things they know about?”
“That’s right,” he says. “All I want to do is keep my badge. Do you understand?”
I tell him I do, and it’s the truth.
I just don’t care.
“You have no idea who they are?”
“No, and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
Nolan smiles. “What kind of people do you think we’re dealing with here?”
I don’t answer.
“You had a man look you in the eye tonight and convince you that he was someone else. And he did it after your friend had worked him over. Can you imagine that kind of control?”
“How do you know he was lying?”
“He had to be,” Nolan says. “It was an act, the pain, the fear, all of it.”
“That’s not possible.”
“I’m afraid it is.” Nolan looks down at his cigarette and rolls it back and forth between his fingers. “Those are the kind of people we’re dealing with.”
“I don’t believe it,” I say. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what I saw in that basement.”
“What did you see? Tell me.”
I start to go over it again. I tell him about the air in the room, hot and thick and heavy with the smell of blood and piss. I tell him about seeing the two of them lumped on either side of the basement. The big one strapped to the table, and the little one…
I stop talking.
The little one.
I picture him in my mind, sitting in the corner, his hands tied with wire and stretched over his head, blood running down his arms. I can still see his face, broken and bruised, one eye swollen shut, the other wide open and fearless, watching me.
Why wasn’t he scared?
My chest aches, and I can’t find the words.
I look at Nolan, and he sees it in my face. He smiles and drops his cigarette on the ground at his feet. “It is what it is.”
“But it doesn’t make sense,” I say. “If it’s true, then why are you here? Why are you involved?”
“I told you.” He motions toward my finger. “They wanted to make sure no one investigated the attack. It’s the reason I kept looking at you instead of finding—”
“No, why are you out here tonight? Someone told you to bring me here. Why would they do that?”
Nolan doesn’t speak.
I keep talking.
“If you’re right about all this, then why would they need you to come to my house and get me? If they wanted me, they could’ve grabbed me that night in the parking lot, or any other night. Why did they have you bring me here tonight?”
Nolan shakes his head, silent.
“It sounds like they wanted us both here.”
Right away, something changes in Nolan’s eyes. He steps back from the car and looks at his watch, then out toward the entrance to the park. I start to say something else, but he holds up a hand, stopping me.
“No more talking.”
I tell him that’s fine with me.
My broken nose is throbbing and sending waves of pain through the center of my skull. It hurts to breathe, and talking is worse.
I lean back against the car and adjust my wrists so the handcuffs don’t cut off the circulation. I hear the wind passing through the trees, and I try to focus on the sound, reminding myself why I’m here.
I close my eyes and think about Diane.
It makes everything all right.
When I open my eyes again, Nolan is gone.
The wind picks up and turns cold.
I pace back and fourth to keep the blood flowing. I can’t feel anything below my elbows, and every step I take sends jagged flashes of pain through